How Volant Went from $0 to $2M in 1 Year Using Social Proof
About
We all have experienced first-hand how Covid-19 shook up our world and never looked back. We’ve seen how businesses everywhere have had to adapt to survive. One might say that during a pandemic is the worst time to start a business. But, Daniel and Tobias thought differently. They started their business, Volant, as a side hustle because of the Covid-19 pandemic alongside their full-time jobs and that too, on a shoe-string budget with little technical knowledge. While a lot of us were going stir-crazy figuring out what next sourdough bread recipe we should make, they noticed that ecommerce was blowing up and saw opportunity. People all over the globe were having to get creative with how they could earn an income online. More and more people were having to adapt to the sudden (and seemingly, ongoing and never-ending) change at a rapid pace. One centralized place a lot of people were going to was online and more specifically, ecommerce. From local coffee shops, to never before pretty lit brand starters, Daniel and Tobias hopped on the bandwagon to give it a go and see what would happen.
Little did they know that in around only 1 year, they’d be 5x Shopify Plus store owners with over $2M in revenue (while staying profitable), who’ve successfully built a brand community, making a difference one household at a time through the power of aromatherapy! What’s impressive is that they didn’t just build 1 ecommerce store, they built out 5 Shopify Plus stores that cover 11 markets in Europe (with fully translatable pages). Keep reading to figure out how they produced such amazing results so quickly.
So how did it all begin? It began from their own personal love and passion for aromatherapy. They started their first ecommerce store on Shopify in May of 2020 during such a stressful time for all of us. Daniel and Tobias wanted to create an experience through aromatherapy and share the benefits of it online. They wanted to play their part in helping ease the tension the world is feeling right now and do so in a manner that imbues love, connection, a feeling of belonging and peace.
The “Why”
"We wanted to help others enhance their lives through aromatherapy as we had."
They decided to use Shopify to start selling essential oils and diffusers online. Important to note is that neither of them were programmers, developers or engineers. Which meant, they needed to find solutions that had all the technicalities built into the processes (AKA easy to use and get going on).
The Goal
To build a successful online business with little to no technical knowledge.
Starting from scratch has its struggles and without knowing how to code or being too tech-savvy, that can add yet another layer of frustration on top of the already daunting task at hand in creating a successful online business. One thing that they did have though, was the courage to make it happen and handy apps that have done the majority of the work and figuring out for you. One of those apps is Loox, a plug and play solution for all things social proof, reviews, building brand awareness, trust, credibility whilst helping boost conversions and brand loyalty. The best part? You don’t need to be an engineer. In fact, you can get up and running using the app within the hour!
The Struggle
Having credibility without being in business for years and creating a full store feel with being first time brand starters all while doing so in an authentic and impactful way.
The Solution = Loox’s Photo Reviews Solution
What drove Tobias and Daniel to Loox was the emphasis on the visuals.
What’s made all the difference in Volant’s journey has been Loox’s photo driven approach with product reviews. The ability to reuse their customer reviews and photos in social media, ads and marketing campaigns has been incredibly powerful. They leverage their product reviews by creating ads and email campaigns showcasing their customer reviews (especially the photos) to boost social proof, trust and let their customers do the talking (and showing).
When asked what their favorite part of leading a company like Volant is, they replied that they love seeing how much they delight their customers through their reviews and find it to be a very rewarding experience that humanizes the whole aspect of doing business online. Their favorite Loox feature is the ability to collect and display photo reviews in a beautiful and differentiated way. Loox’s photo reviews solution was a key factor in Volant’s success and still continues to play an integral part in their ongoing growth and impact. How cool is it that what started out as an idea are now photos you receive from your happy customers raving about your products?! Pretty cool we think.
Volant’s customers use their diffusers for the benefits of aromatherapy, but since their products double as beautiful home decor and interior design pieces, photo driven reviews are a match made in heaven!
So, to recap: In around one year, Volant launched in 11 European markets, has done over $2M in revenue while staying profitable, have become a 5x Shopify Plus store all while maintaining an average 4.7/5 review star rating from their customers across their over 4,700 reviews (and counting)! Now that’s no easy feat.
Volant’s Brand Philosophy: “We believe in love. Family. Inclusion. And that there is a place for everyone. We try our best to create products that will bring people together, across borders and origins. Telling that story, through our products, website and customers is what sets us apart.”
The fact of the matter is that everyone starts at $0 revenue, 0 followers, 0 sales, 0 customers and 0 product reviews. The silver lining is that it can only go up from there! We hope this case study inspired you to get started and try things out. Who knows, a year later you may be looking back on that one decision that changed your life.
At Loox, we love seeing merchants grow both in income and impact and are happy to play a part in it.